


Ethical Lines

by spoke



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Community: kh_drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-12
Updated: 2010-01-12
Packaged: 2017-10-06 05:44:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoke/pseuds/spoke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A conversation between Even and Aeleus, before the fall of Radiant Garden.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ethical Lines

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the kh_drabble community on livejournal. Challenge #145, Temptation.

There were hardly any lights on when he reached lab 8. Aeleus opened the door carefully, mindful of the possibility that one of the Heartless might have gotten loose. "Even?"

"Over here, Aeleus." He was standing with his back to the door, observing one of the captured hearts as it floated in its capsule. He could see Even's expression reflected in the glass as he came closer, and it wasn't anything like he'd expected. The scrawled message asking him to come here had suggested tension, possibly even fear. But it was eagerness showing in the faint reflection of his eyes, and his lips kept twitching upward.

"There is a report on the desk." he gestured behind them without turning from the heart.

He frowned, wondering why Even wasn't just telling him what was going on. Then he saw, spelled out in Xenahort's enthusiastic loops, a plan to further their research that Ansem would never agree to. No scientist with a trace of human decency would agree to it, he knew that.

But he kept reading, while Even took to pacing in and out of his line of sight. The unintended swirl of his lab coat blurred in Aeleus's vision as he read, mingling with its own reflection in the equipment and with the edges of the paper. With a shaking hand he set the papers down before looking up at Even. "The violation of ethical principles..." he started, and frowned as he really looked into his friend's eyes.

Even, who had stopped pacing as soon as he'd seen Aeleus finish. Even who was looking at him now with such a mixture of eagerness and hostility that he seemed some other person. "We've experimented on the Heartless, on every kind of animal reasonably available." Even gestured to himself and Aeleus in turn, aggressive and eager. "What are we, but highly evolved animals? Why should humans be unavailable for research?"

The research... he looked back down to Xenahort's words. The promise they'd always sensed in the man, the possibility of knowledge they could attain in no other way was there. All they had to do was cross one more line...

"Well?" Even asked, his natural impatience cutting through Aeleus's hesitance.

"How do we hide this from Ansem?"


End file.
